VICTORIA – Premier Christy Clark publicly called on select members of her own caucus Wednesday to reverse course on a controversial decision not to reappoint John Doyle as the province’s auditor general.

“If I had my wish, Mr. Doyle would be offered the opportunity to stay on for another two years,” Clark told reporters, speaking publicly for the first time on the decision of a five-member legislative committee to not give Doyle a second term as the government’s independent watchdog.

The two NDP members of that committee are believed to have voted in favour of Doyle during in camera sessions on the issue. That means the required unanimous vote for Doyle’s reappointment would have to have been blocked by one or more of the three sitting Liberals.

Clark’s announcement followed days of public uproar over the committee’s decision, including a call by New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix for Clark to directly intervene.

But on Wednesday, the premier stopped short of recommending that Doyle get another full six-year term, saying instead his extension should play a part in a larger effort to fix an appointment process she called “profoundly flawed.”

Clark said her government will next month introduce legislation that would make the auditor general a one-time appointment that cannot be renewed.

At the same time, she said, the new legislation would extend the term of the province’s auditor general to eight years from six.

The move would bring B.C. closer in line to the federal system — as well as those in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec — where an auditor general is named to a single non-renewable term of 10 years.

“The people of British Columbia need to have confidence that the right person is being selected for the right reasons and that that process stands untainted by political agendas,” she said, explaining the merits of a one-term appointment.

“When there’s skepticism, it puts everybody – the MLAs and the auditor general — in an untenable position. In particular, there will always be perception issues when this selection is done so close to an election.”

As part of the changes, Clark said the committee of five MLAs now charged with identifying the next auditor general should reconsider its decision on Doyle and offer him an extra two years, bringing his total time in office to eight years.

“It’s my hope, and I’ve communicated this to the B.C. Liberal members of the committee, that they will extend an offer to Mr. Doyle to complete his work and stay on for what would be the remaining two years of his term,” Clark said.

That committee met again on Wednesday, not long after Clark’s public comments. After that meeting, committee chair and B.C. Liberal MLA Eric Foster spoke in support of Clark’s proposed changes.

“I think the idea of changing the terms of the office and having a one-term appointment is probably a great way to go; it eliminates all this problem,” he said.

But Foster refused to say what the committee had discussed during its in camera meeting, or say whether it had any plans to offer Doyle a two-year extension.

The committee meets again on Friday.

Doyle refused to comment Wednesday on whether he would accept a two-year appointment, saying through a spokeswoman he wanted to hear directly from the committee before speaking.

New Democratic Party caucus chair Shane Simpson called Wednesday’s announcement “damage control by the premier.”

“Clearly they made a decision to not reappoint Mr. Doyle. It has blown up in their face,” he said, adding he thinks Clark should have called for Doyle to be appointed for another six-year term.

Simpson added he is happy to have a discussion about how to appoint the province’s auditor general, but believes it should not be taking place just to help the B.C. Liberals escape public scrutiny.

“It’s a discussion that makes sense and it’s a discussion we should all be ready to have and we’re happy to have it,” he said.

“But it’s got to be one that isn’t about trying to extract yourself from a political problem.”

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